Every once in a while it happens. In the midst of all that is wrong, something so right finds its way through.

Arkansas should be utterly embarrassed today at the very thought of Bobby Petrino. And absolutely giddy about Jeff Long.

At one point during Long’s press conference to announce that he, as athletic director at Arkansas, had fired Petrino, I stood up and clapped. In my living room, with my dog staring at me like I’d gone half crazy.

This is what college sports needs, where the madness finally turns and we all get off this ridiculous carousel of pandering and enabling and selling out for winning. Where—I know this will sound foreign to some of you—there are actually consequences for choices.

Where we’re not blaming others or looking for scapegoats or choosing the easy way or finding common ground or, for the love of God, excusing a grown man for shopping his son for $180,000.

In less than 30 minutes Jeff Long showed what Mark Emmert and the rest of the NCAA hasn’t been able to do in years: how to stand up and embrace accountability and responsibility.

Want to know why Long was so emotional about firing Petrino? Because he pried Petrino away from the Atlanta Falcons. He brought a known liar and deceiver to his alma mater to lead 100-plus student athletes and many more staff and operations people.

He gave Petrino a fat salary and a long-term contract and was building a brand new football facility. His controversial hire had built the Hogs into a legitimate national title contender.

And then it was over.

That was Long on Tuesday night, rolling through a litany of reasons why he fired Petrino, pausing only to hold back tears and take sips of water while steadily reading a list that, frankly, was incomprehensible.

“Here are the findings of my review,” Long began.

And the rest was a beatdown of epic proportions.

Petrino lied and misled university officials. He hired a woman (Jessica Dorrell) with whom he was having an affair, a decision that opened the university to potential sexual harassment claims. He gave Dorrell $20,000 in a “cash gift.”

Every statement of fact was seemingly worse than the next. The only way it possibly could’ve been more dramatic was if Petrino himself were standing there in allocution.

With each declaration from Long, his voice grew steady and his resolve grew stronger. Adversity, everyone, doesn’t build character. It reveals it.

Long said he wasn’t influenced by heavy-hitting boosters, that he made the decision in the best interest of the university after speaking to everyone involved in The Great Harley Caper. That’s right, there was no investigation committee, no committee on infractions, no appeals committee.

One man, one decision—and no ridiculous statements that one committee could only rule on what another committee sent them, or there’s no specific rule for selling your son for $180,000, or no exact rule against advisors (see: street agents).

It was fantastic theater, a sweet symphony of Are You Watching Mr. Emmert?

Long says he’s in no rush to hire a coach, and that he’ll use an interim coach this fall if he can’t find the right man for the job. Have faith, Arkansas.